Bill-clip.



.nnrrnn s'rarns PATENT orrion.

ALBERT F. STAPLES, 0F CANISTEO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SUPERIOR REGISTER COMPANY, OF CANISTEO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BILL-CLIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1913.

Application filed June 28, 1911. Serial No. 635,902

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. STAPLES, a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Ganisteo, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bill-Clips, of which the following is a specification.

I This invention relates to resilient clips such as are used for holding bills, charge slips, and the like, in connection with filing devices such as account-registers, or wherever it is necessary to hold one or more sheets of paper for filing purposes.

One object of the invention is to produce a clip of simple and efficient form, which may be readily constructed of a single length of wire, and which shall have capacity for a variable number of bills or slips while holding its contents securely under all conditions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and convenient form of holder by which removable cards bearing names and numbers, or other indicia, may be fixed to a clip of the form .described.

To the foregoing ends the invention consists in the bill-clip hereinafter described, as it is defined in the succeeding claims.

In the accompanying drawings:-Figure 1 is a front-elevation of a port-ion of a billholder frame of an account-register provided with clips embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan-view of the rear surface of the bill-holder frame of Fig. 1, as swung forwardly in a horizontal position; and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4l4 in Fig. 2.

The invention is illustrated as applied to a bill-holder frame adapted for use in an account-register, such, for example, as that disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 628,285, filed May 19, 1911. This billholder frame comprises a flat. bodyportion or base-plate 5 of sheet-metal, which is stiffened at its lateral edges, and at the middle, I

by vertical ribs 6 on the front and theback of the base-plate. The lower edge of the base-plate is provided with a wire which, at its ends, constitutes pivots 7 by which the bill-holder frame is mounted when in use. These parts constitute in themselves no part of the present invention, except in so far as they cooperate with the novel bill-clips.

Referring to the bill-clips as applied to the front of the base-plat-e, and illustrated particularly in Fig. 1, each clip consists of a single length of wire. At one extremity this wire is bent to form a hook 8, which is seated in a perforation in the baseplate. The wire is then bent to form a resilient coil 9 lying against the front of the base-plate. From this coil a straight portion 10 of the wire .extends horizontally, and is then bent upwardly to form a vertical side-member 11. At the top of the side-member the wire is bent inwardly, and then downwardly, so as to form a central .U-shaped loop 12. The farther upper extremity of this loop is then bent outwardly, and then downwardly to form a second side-member 13. At the lower end of the side-member 13 the wire is again bent horizontally to form a straight portion 14:, which extends through the coil 9. At the right-hand end of the straight portion 14 the wire is again coiled, forming a coil 15 corresponding in function to the coil 9, and the extremity of the wire is provided with a second hook 16 similar to the hook 8,and seated in a perforation in the base-plate.

The general form of the clip just described, residing in the combination of the central U-shaped loop, the outer side-members, and the torsional horizontal bottom members, is not novel, but a feature of the invention resides in the formation of the side-members 11 and 13. It will be noted that when a considerable number of bills are held by the clip, the upper end of the clip is held away from the base-plate to a distance equal to the thickness of the bundle of bills. The side-members accordingly occupy an inclined position across the lateral edges of the bills. The upper portions of the bills are thus held effectively against lateral movement. To secure the lower portions also against lateral movement each sidemember is bent to form a loop or outward projection 17 near its lower end. These loops extend across the edges of all of the bills, thus retaining the bills securely between the side-members. By the use of this device the necessity of vertical partitions, or ribs, between the several columns of clips employed on a bill-holder frame, is avoided, so that the clips may be placed close together, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, thus economizing in space and in the bulk of the account-register.

.Another feature of the invention resides in the novel formation of the middle loop 12. lVhen the bill-holder frame stands in vertical position, and a clip is opened to insert or remove bills held thereby, it is necessary to provide for supporting the bills at their lower extremities to prevent them from falling downwardly out of the clip. To this end I bend the lower extremity of the clip inwardly to form an offset 18. When the upper end of the clip is swung away from the base-plate this oiiset on the loop remains in engagement with the front surface of the base-plate, thus securely inclosing the lower edges of all of the bills, and supporting the weight of the bills.

Another feature of the invention resides in the novel means for holding. name'and number cards upon the clips. To this end each clip is provided with a member comprising a strip 19 of sheetmetal extending across the central loop, and across the space between this loop and the side-member 11 of the clip. The body of this strip is located in the plane of the rear surfaces of the wires, and one end 20 is bent and locked around one side of the loop 12. In the form of the clip employed on the front of the billholder frame, as shown in Fig. 1, the other end 21 of the strip is bent and locked around the side-member 11 of the clip. A tongue 22 cut and bent from the strip is also locked around the right-hand side-member of the loop 12. Between the side-members of the loop the upper and lower edges of the strip are bent forwardly and inwardly to provide flanges 23, and between the loop 12 and the side-member 11 similar flanges 25 are formed on the strip. A name-card 24 of suitable form may be inserted endwise between the flanges 23 and the body 19 of the card-holder, this name-card being normally retained in place by the engagement of its ends with the end 20 and the tongue 19. A number-card 26 is similarly inserted between the flanges 25, being retained in place by the engagement of its ends with the tongue 22 and the end 21 of the card-holder.

In connection with the clips upon the back of the bill-holder frame, the cardholder is preferably located at the free end of the loop 12, as shown in Fig. 8, in order that.

it may stand at what is, in effect, the top of the clip when the bill-holder frame is in the horizontal position of Fig. 3. As so used, the card-holder is modified to the extent that the end 21 is not locked around the sidemember of the clip, but is merely bent forward to form a flange engaging the righthand end of the number-card.

I claim 1. In an account-register, a bill-holding clip comprising a wire bent to form sidemembers and a central loop, and a name andnu1nber holder consisting of a plate of sheet-metal extending across and locked to both sides of the central loop and one of the side-members, said plate having inwardlybent marginal flanges between the sides of the loop to secure a name-card and similar flanges between the loop and said side-meniber to secure a number-card.

2. In an account-register, a bill-holding clip comprising a single length of wire bent to form two bottom-members, two side-mem bers extending upwardly, respectively, from the bottom-members and provided near the bottom of the clip with forwardly-bent ex tensions or loops, and a central loop bent downwardly from and connecting the upper ends of the side-portions, the central loop being bent inwardly at the bottom to form an abutment to engage the lower edges of the bills.

In an account-register, a bill-holding clip comprising a wire bent to form sidemembers and a central loop, and a nameand-number holder consisting of a plate of sheet-metal extending behind said wire and across both sides of the central loop and one of the side members, said plate being bent forwardly at its ends to embrace the wire and at its lateral margins to form forwardly-projecting flanges between the sides of the central loop and one side of the loop and the adjacent side-member, and having also a tongue bent forwardly around said side of the central loop.

ALBERT F. STAPLES.

l Vitnesses FARNUM F. Dorsey, D. GURNEE.

Copies ofv this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

